1453: Revival of Byzantium

Knowing that it is impossible for them to break through this clock with their clumsy hands, the irritated Varangians decided to use another method that they are much more familiar with, that is through the use of brute force. One Varangian swung out his axe, passed it to Yuri. The later took over the battle axe which is usually used for slashing meat not woods, aimed for the door lock and with one giant swing – it successfully found itself on to the door, missing the lock by a far away distance. Enraged by the axe he is holding Yuri made one more flung, and of course, this time his axe hit the wooden door too with out fail. 

"Oh, my Sitka, oh my Sitka, why don't you follow my instructions?" Yuri groaned to his axe as he made another try and hit the wooden door again leaving another deep slash on the wooden planks.

Just as Yuri is about to give another try, his admiral Antonius who is lying on the table and sleeping suddenly made a turn, and muttered some words out of his mouth which indeed scared the souls out of Yuri and the Varangians, fearing that their admiral might suddenly come awake and see what they are trying to do. But luckily for them, Antonius simply made a turn adjusting himself in to a more comfortable position, and continued sinking in to his deep slumber.

This accident almost woke Yuri up from the alcohol, he heaved a sigh of relief and made a quiet signal to the rest of the pals by putting his mouth on the lips. Then he turned back to the door, with more caution he made several tries again placing the battle axe on to the opening between the door and the wooden lock, and with the might from his entire body Yuri slashed the wooden lock in to half, finally managing to open this door to the cellar, and what they found inside definitely did not disappoint them. 

The wine cellar, despite being overall small as compared to the cellars of other pubs they used to frequent back then in Thessaloniki and Constantinople, is still the pride of the hostel with barrels after barrels of age old wine and mead being stacked together until it reaches the ceilings, still carrying the coolness from the winter a few month ago, which accompanied with the aroma of ripe wine makes it a perfect timing to be enjoyed by true mead lovers like Yuri. And that is exactly what Yuri have thought and laughed to the others, saying that it is God's choice to not waste such handy wines in the cellars and let them drink all of it, because after all, wasting such precious stuff is considered a sin by God, that is what the patriarchs say, and it must be the same for alcohol. 

The other Varangians agreed to their commander's words of wisdom with all of their limbs, forgetting that their religion by right bans the consumption of alcohol for self entertainment purposes. And if the smart ones in Antonius' court, like Abdullah and Alexios, or even the kids like Mikhail are to see so many barrels of wines being stacked over in a cellar of a small town like this they would soon raise a suspicion realizing that there is some thing wrong here, Where did all these wines of all varieties including the various grape wines and the recently popular beer come from? Who made them? The residents over here? And who purchased them? The owner of this hostel?

Not really possible right.

One must take note in mind that the production of wine, especially the ones made from grapes and starch, is a kind of agricultural activity that requires a lot of spare fertile land for production, a lot of manpower that is way more than the man power need for normal food production. The production of wine beverages is often considered to be such a great luxury and huge waste of natural resources that it would usually be banned or at least placed under a set of strict regulations by states in order to prevent the brewing of wine from using too much agricultural resources that might lead to a famine in the entire state. 

Hence, there must be a problem with this hostel owning such an amount of wine, but that is not in the concerns that Yuri and his old boys shall think about, as they are already indulging themselves in the aroma of the wines tickling their taste buds. The gang of Varangians returned from the cellar, with each two of them carrying an entire barrel of alcohol with one being dropped in the process of transportation. They then went on trying to open the wine barrels, but no matter how hard they try, the bunch of drunkards just failed to find a way to open it. Annoyed by this they remembered using their old method – slashing it open with his beloved battle axe. 

We never knew how much wine Yuri and his men have drunk that night, but judging by the smiles they have on their sleeping faces, the wooden scraps, broken barrels, spilled wines and the strong scent from the mixture of various wines filling the atmosphere, one is able to know that these boys had a great time in the past night. The two kids Mikhail and Nikolas are absolutely shocked of the sight they saw the next morning when they came down the stair case. Antonius have not woken up yet, and the Varangians are sleeping like they have lost their consciousness, meaning that they are now the boss over here. 

"Brother, should we also try some of the alcohol?" Apparently, Nikolas is still having the curiosity to have a taste of every thing belonging to the teenage years licking his lips. However, it seems like Mikhail had a totally different idea from his younger brother, he looked at these sleeping drunkards, then turned to look at his younger brother, and is totally unable to imagine what if his younger brother becomes some one like them, and straight away shook his head rejecting the truthful wish from his beloved brother. 

"No Nikolas, remember you cannot become a drunkard like those people. Remember what happened to the land lord told in the tales of our mentor, the one whose head got chopped off by his tenants when he was drunk?" 

The young Nikolas nodded his head slightly. 

"Never drink wine, and never get you drunk…. Not only is it a sin in Christianity, it also impairs your thinking, damage your mind, makes you turn in to making the wrong decision that you would regret for life, and the mysterious addiction that comes with this liquid can make you and your family remember forever… We aim to be scholars, not drunkards, understand?" 

Despite the quenching thirst and curiosity, the younger Nikolas still nodded and listened to his older brother. Then the two of them trudged out of the hall, leaping over the Varangians and wooden barrels lying every where going to get some thing to eat. Strangely speaking although the sun is already hanging high in the horizon, the keeper of this hostel is still yet to return. The horse outside the hostel is grazing casually on the dried grass, with no signs that any one has came and lay their hands on them on the past night which totally does not suit the still low grade public security in the region with thieves roaming around. 

Antonius finally woke up before noon, feeling a headache that is almost tearing his skull apart and unable to open his eyes. And when he finally regained his sight, the first thing that came to his mind is the hellish scenery right in the dining hall. He found himself speechless, he remembers clearly that every time before entering a town or an inhabited area, he shall tell Yuri and the Varangians to mind their behaviors, never cause any rowdiness and chaos, respect the properties of the others and never ever get drunk. 

But it is apparent that Yuri forgot all of his words the moment when Antonius is drunk and is unable to supervise them any further; If he had heard the words of Mikhail, he would have definitely agreed with him as he is now regretting about his decision to get drunk last night to the fullest. The trip was meant to be under incognito, trying to pretend like they are just a bunch of passing merchants and not cause any trouble before the residents which might stir troubles and blow their cover.

And now these drunkards have caused a trouble that no one can solve, look at the broken barrels and wooden scraps, look at the damage on the cellar door, look at the battle axes lying any where on the ground, look at the wine spilled on the ground that shall be drank by the rats running around, Antonius can almost imagine the shouts coming from the hostel keepers after they came back.